A/N: On my computer, this chapter was split into two separate chapters, but I found that the length of these two chapters were too short, so I combined the two. I think it's pretty obvious to tell what is what, considering. Anyways, I don't own fable, yadda yadda yadda. This is the chapter that features my three OCs. Please enjoy and excuse my extensive use of the dividers; they are for clarity as well as organization's sake. Thank you

~Mare


A foul, god-awful smell entered my nostrils and my eyes shot open. My contacts were dry, indicating that I had been out for quite a while. My whole body ached, and I had a horrible headache from whatever the smell entering my nose was. My eyes were watering, and slowly I glanced around, trying to find what to do. All around me, everything was dark, and I outstretched my hands in front of me, reaching towards nothing but darkness. They were sweaty and shaking as I groped my way around. "Is anybody there?" I exclaimed loudly, praying someone could hear me.

A bright light in front of me…and then a blind woman in red appeared, a smile on her aged face.

"Welcome to Albion, young hero," she said, and I struggled to suppress a giggle.

"Hero? Me?" I responded, and she seemed to grow more serious with everything she said. Every word that she spoke grew more dire, more urgent."

"Yes, you. You are fated to change Albion, but first you must make yourself known."

And she disappeared as light flooded my eyes.


"Is she alive?"

"Of course she alive, you dimwit!"

"Well then why ain't she movin'?"

"How should I know?"

"Then how do you know she ain't dead?"

"Obviously if her chest is moving as if she's breathing, and her heart is still beating, she isn't dead."

The constant bickering between the obviously uneducated people in my presence forced me to open my eyes, and I flinched at the sudden flood of sunlight that burned my retinas. Squinting, I found one of these two men was prodding my cheek with a stick, which inclined me to snatch it from him. Angrily, I thrust the stick into his side, poking him repeatedly with twice as much force as he'd poked me with. "How does that make you feel?" I demanded. "Sheesh, you don't have to poke me in the face with a stick!" I snapped the twig in two with my knee.

"Obviously she's alive," said the other man, who was obviously the more educated of the two. He had long black hair slicked back into a ponytail, and he wore a green jacket over an exquisitely made suit. He was extremely handsome, and I stared at him for a moment before I blinked out of my trance and realized I had no clue where I was.

"Umm…where am I?" I asked, and the dimwitted one made a grand sweeping motion all around us.
"You, m'lady, are in Bowerstone Industrial!" he said.

"Where?" I said, dumbfounded.

"Bowerstone. Industrial," the smarter one repeated, putting his hand on my forehead to see if maybe I had a fever. Or a concussion. I figured it was the latter of the two, and I flinched away from him. I didn't like complete strangers touching me as if we'd been friends since kindergarten. I thought back to the odd blind woman and then my eyes widened.

"Wait, is this Albion?" I asked, and the dumb one nodded.

"Yep! 'Tis be Albion—all around you"—I barely understood his sentence—"and my name be Periwinkle the Pawnbroker. This chap 'ere is Jonathon ."

"Alexis," I said as I shook Periwinkle the Pawnbroker's hand, and with that handshake, I could tell I had sealed my fate.


Periwinkle stood in front of his cash register in his shop, while I sat in a chair behind him and watched people as they came in and out. They all wore different outfits, and I could tell I stood out like a sore thumb with my Converse. Many of his customers gave me odd looks as they walked in and out, and I heard them murmur about my strange attire as they walked off. No doubt, they'd probably stay away from Periwinkle for a while, and I felt bad about it because it was partially my fault. His sales would drop because of me and he might go bankrupt. Of course, he was the only Pawnbroker in town, so that was unlikely.

Periwinkle explained to me that Pawnbrokers buy items from people that no longer wanted them, or who just needed the money. I wondered where he got the money for buying the items, and he said that he "had his ways" and gave me a small wink. I wondered what that meant, but I pursued the question no more, afraid that he might have things up his sleeve that I didn't care to know about.

As I heard a man outside yell "the shops are now closing," I jumped out of my chair and stretched. "Finally!" I exclaimed, and Periwinkle began counting his money as I walked around his shop, examining his wares. I stopped at a pretty pink and white dress, and I stared at it with wide eyes. "Periwinkle, this is really pretty."

"Huh?" said Periwinkle, looking up from his counting.

"I said, 'this is really pretty'," I repeated slowly, and Periwinkle nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it's a dress from some noblewoman that wanted it out of her hair. Nobody wants to buy it, though. Say it's cursed. Whoever wears it is cursed with bad luck in love," he grunted, but before I could ask more, he began counting his money again as if I'd never talked to begin with. I walked in a full circle around the dress before I smiled and pulled out the sleeve.

"Periwinkle?"

"Hmm?"

He had finished counting his money and was now flipping through a dog instruction manual even though he didn't have a dog. I suspected that maybe he was only looking at the pictures, but he seemed in deep concentration. I felt bad for bothering him again, but I picked up the dress and held it close, as if examining if it'd fit. "Periwinkle, can I have this dress?"

"I dunno if you'd want that dress, lass," Periwinkle responded cautiously. "D'ya really wan' bad luck in love?"

"I could care less about love. I don't intend on falling in love anytime soon," I replied, and Periwinkle shrugged his approval. I grinned happily and hugged the dress close. Periwinkle eyed me curiously before he motioned to the ceiling.

"Outside on the side of the shop there are stairs that lead to the living area upstairs. You can change into the dress there. There're also some things up there if you want to alter your hair or makeup."

"Gee, thanks, Periwinkle!"

I followed my new friend's directions and sure enough, I found the stone staircase on the side of the shop. I climbed the stairs slowly, careful not to fall due to lack of railing, and stepped into the so-called "living area". It was rather neatly lavished, with simply furniture all around. I quickly changed into the dress so I could work on my hair. I sat down in front of the pretty polished oak dresser that had a large mirror attached. Slowly, I picked up Periwinkle's brush and began to brush out my long curls. I was tiring of them rather quickly – they constantly fell into my face. Slowly, I pulled my hair back into a princess-type hairstyle with a braided bun. I then wandered back down to the shop. "Periwinkle," I said. "Thank you so much for letting me borrow this –"

I stopped in mid-sentence, with good reason to. Periwinkle's shop appeared ransacked, and he was nowhere in sight. It seemed as though there had been a struggle, and I frowned, my heart racing at all types of speeds I didn't know possible. I stepped behind the cash register and found the money was gone. So was he robbed? I assumed so. Pulling up a stool, I sat down and slowly began to organize the many papers strewn about the counter. I found that one of the papers had a stamp that said 'Reaver Industries'. I stared at it for a long time, waiting for something to click. Nothing came.

"Periwinkle, my good friend, how are you—Oh, my! Alexis, are you alright? What happened here?" I glanced up and found Jonathon standing there, eyes wide. I jumped up, still clutching the 'Reaver Industries' paper.

"Periwinkle's gone." I stated the obvious, and in admitting that my friend was gone, I felt an odd hole in my heart. A pain appeared in the pit of my stomach. "I don't know what happened…It looks like a robbery, though. We have to find him!" Jonathon's eyes grew dark, and he shook his head.

"No, not a robbery," he said. "You see, Periwinkle is in debt. In order to run his business, he's been borrowing money from Reaver Industries. Obviously he hasn't paid them back, so he's been dragged off to work in the factories. Poor chap."

"Well, we have to go save him! We can't just leave him—"

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do, Alexis. This is his own fault. He'll work in the factories until he can settle his debt with Reaver."

"Who's Reaver?" I asked quickly, and Jonathon seemed oblivious to my drill of questions.

"The head of Reaver Industries, of course."

"Thanks. That's all I need to know."

With that, I ran out of Periwinkle's large shop, heading for the factory in the distance.